Saskatchewan homes might have to be adorned with artificial Christmas decorations this holiday season as the province experiences a shortage of real trees.
Nikki Vanduyvendyk, co-owner of Dutch Growers in Saskatoon said this is the second year of a tree shortage.
“This all came because there was a crop failure right before covid started there was an influx of people wanting live trees.”
She said business at greenhouses and tree farms started booming as people tried to liven up things up while being confined to their homes.
Dutch Growers is only allotted a certain number of trees per season and Vanduyvendyk said they have received even fewer than last year. People need to come get their tree early if they want a live tree, Vanduyvendyk said, even if they don’t plan on setting it up right away.
“The trick is to keep it outside, keep it frozen and in a shaded part of your house on the north side. Don’t put it in the south side of your house. If you want to put it in your garage, put it in a pail of water to keep it fresh and cut the end off right before you bring it in.”
She said a live tree should always remain in water and the end must be cut off before bringing it inside or it will instantly dry out.
Saskatchewan residents can also head up north to get a tree.
According to Dustin Guedo, vegetation ecologist at Prince Albert National Park, said the park is seeing less of a shortage and cutting your own tree from the park is actually healthy for the forest.
“We take forest fire management seriously and one of the key tools we use is maintaining our community fuel break,” Guedo said. “It’s an area where we like to keep it mostly broadleaf trees like aspen and shrubs which are a lot easier to control forest fires in the summertime.”
He said that people can go to these areas of the park and cut down their own tree during the Christmas tree harvest and help keep the forest healthy.
“We remove the conifer trees, those trees that are much more flammable.”
Prince Albert National Park’s annual Christmas tree harvest is open now and will be running until Dec. 23.